The Fourth Reason
by dwparsnip
Summary: The return of Superman to the Justice League, and how Diana reacts to it, gives Bruce reason in his mind to worry about his relationship with her. SPOILERS FOR Superman Returns.
1. Chapter 1

1) I still don't own anything associated with Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman or the Justice League.

2) I've mixed the comics, 'Superman Returns' and the animated series together. I hope it isn't too fouled up.

3) **There are spoilers in this for 'Superman Returns'**. If you don't want the movie experience spoiled, don't read ahead. If you haven't seen the movie I'd recommend it.

4) The reasons alluded to in the story are the three reasons that Batman gave Diana for not dating in the animated series episode 'This Little Piggy'. As you could probably guess, the fourth reason is an additional reason that resurfaced after Superman returns to the Justice League.

5) And most importantly, thank you Jenn for your time, effort, suggestions and comments in helping me with this.:)

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Bruce Wayne sat in his chair in front of the massive computer that was the mainstay of the Batcave. He was in costume minus the cowl which laid within easy reach on the computer console.

He gazed absently at the immense monitor in front of him, the image he had frozen there nearly an hour before was nothing but a blur to him now. The security footage from the main conference room of the Watchtower was hardly something that would normally be considered important enough to occupy his attention. However, this particular footage from that particular day was anything but the usual mundane security footage.

Indeed not.

The date and time stamp in the bottom right hand corner of the screen verified it as the day of his friend's return to the League after a five-year absence. Bruce's eyes focused and shot up briefly to where he was when the frame was taken, back against the wall near the door with his cape drawn tightly around him. Only he knew of the clenched fists hiding inside his cape as the scene before him unfolded.

They were happy to have him back, as they should have been. Superman's absence was keenly felt by all. His strength, his leadership and his sense of honor…even his innocence. Even Bruce missed the Boy Scout and what he brought to the League. In many ways, Superman was the best of the League.

His eyes wandered back down to the center of the screen, which in this case fell onto the center of the room as well. There he was, large as life, surrounded by his comrades in arms, including Diana.

She was affected most by his return. He always knew that Clark held a very special place in Diana's heart and it was easily seen in her reaction to his return. After getting over the initial shock of seeing him it was almost as though he hadn't left. She even got over the unresolved anger she felt towards his lengthy absence and the fact that he hadn't even contacted any of them. They all did.

It's not that he begrudged Diana her happiness at Superman's homecoming, but in the two weeks since his return to the League they spent a tremendous amount of time together. There had even been a few times in the last week when he had gone to find her, to be with her, only to find her alone with Clark.

He never interrupted them.

His right hand came up and the leather covered thumb and index finger rubbed the bridge of his nose. He suddenly felt tired…very tired. He leaned back in the chair, folded his hands together on his lap and looked up at the image once again. Clark's smile was enormous, matched in its intensity only by the smile that graced her beautiful lips. His right hand grasped Flash's as they shook hands. Diana was situated to his left, her left hand on his left forearm and her right hand resting on his shoulder. If he zoomed in and cleaned up the image enough, he suspected that he would find her right breast grazing his triceps.

He never bothered. It didn't matter.

Bruce always knew that Superman would return…it was as certain as the sun rising in the morning. He never made any contingency plans either for the League or for Diana. As far as the League was concerned, Superman was a permanent member on hiatus. He could come back at any time and resume his usual role. There hadn't even been a discussion about it, and Bruce had no quarrel with it. Not really. Well, maybe a little.

For Diana the answer was just as simple, if more painful. She would have a choice to make, and he would let her make it without any pressure from him. He knew it would be hard enough for her as it was. Bruce had no doubt that she loved him, but Clark…there was always something there for Clark, or Kal, as she called him so affectionately.

Kal.

It hadn't even occurred to him that Diana wouldn't have a choice to make. It was a given. The choice between him and Clark…between the dark and the light, some would say.

He'd be one of them.

Unfortunately for him, she appeared to be making that choice just fine.

He reached forward and manipulated the image, cropping everything but the section of the two of them touching so…intimately. The red and blue of their respective costumes complimenting each other in a very aesthetically pleasing way. Two beacons of light…

The right corner of his mouth turned up in a resigned smile. "There it is", he mumbled as though it was one of his deepest secrets. Perhaps it was. "The fourth reason." The one he didn't tell her that night as they watched the Natural History Museum because it seemed unnecessary then. The one reason that appeared, at the time, to have the least bearing on the situation; the one reason that she could dismiss automatically because of Lois and the love she and Clark shared.

Now it was different. With Lois out of Clark's life in a romantic sense, it had all the bearing in the world.

He almost told her his fourth reason when she decapitated the gargoyle, looked at him and said so directly, 'Next.' He never got the chance to even decide whether or not to give her that reason…that excuse for avoiding a romance with her, as Circe appeared and ended up turning his beautiful teammate into a silver bracelet wearing pig.

A quiet clearing of a throat interrupted his reverie and made his finger automatically find the correct key to remove the image and replace it with a grid map of Gotham. His hands resumed their position on his lap. He didn't turn to see who had cleared his throat. It could only be Alfred.

"What is it, Alfred?", asked a voice that an in-between mixture of Batman and Bruce Wayne.

Alfred stood on the bottom step and frowned at the state of his ward. He saw the picture that Bruce was looking at, and it saddened and alarmed him. He had no doubt about how Miss Diana felt about his charge but Bruce, despite his confidence in his deductive and fighting abilities, still couldn't bring himself to be confident in her feelings for him. The picture on the screen, his posture and the fact that he was still in the cave this late were bad signs. Very bad signs indeed.

Just as he was sure of Diana's feelings, he was sure of Bruce's. He loved her very much, more than he had loved any other woman that had entered his life. Unfortunately, he was also more unsure of the foundation of their relationship than he had been with any other woman. It boggled Alfred's mind.

"It is getting late, Master Bruce", Alfred stated in a business like tone. "I would suggest that if you want the criminals of Gotham to feel the wrath of Batman tonight, you should stop worrying needlessly about Miss Diana and go terrorize them." Alfred reigned in his growing frustration. "It is after two in the morning, sir."

Bruce just managed to keep the shock and surprise from manifesting itself in any outward fashion. Interestingly, he couldn't immediately determine if his surprise was at the fact that it was so late, or that Alfred knew what was eating at him.

Definitely the former, he decided. He was well aware of the fact that Alfred knew everything that happened in the manor…and underneath it as well. He stood up and turned to look at Alfred, seeing for a moment a sympathetic cast to his features. It disappeared in a blink of an eye though, replaced by Alfred's usual veneer.

When Bruce found his voice it was his usual gruff tone. "Thank you, Alfred." He looked to the computer readout of the police reports for the night. "It's a quiet night. Perhaps Batman isn't needed tonight."

He took a step to the changing room to get out of his costume when the teleporter activation alarm sounded. Both men automatically turned to the device and watched specks of light coalesce into a solid form…a familiar and very beautiful form at that.

"Diana", whispered Bruce with the ever-dangerous combination of unfettered love and devastating dread. She was in costume and looking as radiant as ever. It took him a moment to realize that he was smiling…

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Diana stepped out of the teleporter, let her eyes grow accustomed to the darkness and took in the sight before her. When she saw him standing there, with his dark blue eyes focused intently on her, a smile automatically came to her face.

For a moment she saw the same smile on Bruce's face…but only for a moment. She was used to that by now and had come to accept it as part of who he was. Diana had waited a long time for him to admit his love for her and agree to work at a relationship. As with most things with Bruce, once he committed to something he was in it for the long haul, and their relationship was no exception. If someone had told her when they first met years earlier that Batman was capable of any type of expression of love she would have laughed in their face. Wally still couldn't believe it, even after witnessing multiple examples of it.

Yes, it took a while, but for her the wait was more than worth it.

"I was hoping to find you here." She took a step towards him and stopped cold when she realized that Alfred was present as well. She looked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out why Alfred looked so concerned, never mind why he was even in the cave so late. "What's going on?" she asked in general, hoping that one of them would seize the opportunity to answer her.

She kept looking back and forth between Bruce and Alfred, neither of them moving much less talking with nearly identical looks of stony-faced stubbornness etched upon their faces. A few moments passed and Diana was becoming concerned. She decided that a change in tactics was required. She stepped towards Alfred, close enough for his sense of chivalry to demand that he look at her, which he did.

"Alfred", she began quietly, "is everything alright?"

Alfred smiled a smile that Diana had come to learn was his 'I'm not sure' smile, but he said nothing.

"Alfred", she tried, "why are you in the cave so late?"

Alfred looked beyond her shoulder to Bruce, and then returned his gaze to Diana. "I came to remind Master Bruce that it was getting late to start his patrol, Miss."

Diana felt her brow furrow in confusion. "He hasn't been out yet?" She turned to regard Bruce, who had as absolute a look of neutrality as she had ever seen etched on his face. He wasn't giving anything away. "Why hasn't he been out yet, Alfred?"

"I believe he was looking over some materials on the computer, Miss."

Bruce's jaw twitched. Not much, but she noticed. She looked to the screen but all that was there was a map of Gotham.

"What's going on?", she repeated and more loudly this time in the hopes that a show of annoyance would get some answers.

"Research." Short, not so sweet, and to the point.

"Research?", she repeated suspiciously as she faced Bruce fully. He didn't elaborate, nor did he move…she couldn't even be sure he was breathing from looking at him. "I come here after getting back from the Fortress with Kal, hoping to find you home for the night so we could spend some time together." She put her hands on her hips and hardened her gaze into something she usually reserved for super villains. "Instead I come here and find the two of you in some kind of…whatever it is. Now someone please tell me what's going on."

"You were with Clark…at the Fortress?" His jaw was clenched so tightly he was almost surprised he got it out.

Her eyes locked onto Bruce's, which, for some reason, had turned to ice, her hands still resting on her hips. The grating tone of his voice and the sheer anger in his eyes limited her answer to one word. "Yes."

"You were supposed to be helping Flash in Keystone City, Princess."

She thought she heard a little sound of disapproval from Alfred, and for a moment she thought that it was directed towards her. A quick glance to the elder man told her the opposite: it was aimed squarely at Bruce.

She turned her full attention back to Bruce. The way he said 'Princess' made her feel uncomfortable. It definitely wasn't said as a courtesy or an endearment, as was his habit. "Shayera went with Flash. Kal said he needed me..."

She stopped talking and watched as Bruce moved suddenly towards the Batmobile, grabbing his cowl off the console and pulling it over his head along the way with a grace and fluidity that would make a prima ballerina want to turn in her slippers and tutu.

She took a step towards him as he lowered himself into the car but stopped when she felt a gentle pressure on her left arm. She looked down to Alfred's hand holding her. She could have easily broken the hold, but something in Alfred's eyes stopped her. The Batmobile came to life and roared out the secret tunnel and she looked up just in time to see the flame from the afterburner disappear around the first turn.

Diana was confused, angry and shocked all at once. She turned to Alfred who had since released her, her mouth opening to ask the obvious question though she could make no sound at all. Well, at least nothing intelligible.

Alfred simply shook his head as he clasped his hands behind his back, releasing a tired sigh.

Finally Diana found her voice. "Was it something I said, Alfred?"

She meant it as something of a joke of course, something she heard from Wally a number of times, so when Alfred spoke the harsh truth his words shook her deeply.

"Yes, Miss", he said quietly, though his tone told her that she hadn't really done anything wrong. "I'm afraid it was."


	2. Chapter 2

I feel compelled to state once again that there are spoilers in this story, and in this particular chapter, for 'Superman Returns'.

And thanks to Jenn for taking the time to help me with this.

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Diana stood in the Batcave, totally stunned beyond rational thought by Bruce's actions and what Alfred said. "What…am I…Alfred?"

Alfred looked into the pleading eyes of Diana and nearly winced. He had seen disappointment in the eyes of Bruce's female companions far too often in his decades of service, but he fervently hoped that he would never have the opportunity to see it in Diana's eyes. It was not to be, however. As her eyes held his, he realized he had never before seen such confused devastation in any of Bruce's lady friends as he saw in the eyes of the Amazon Princess.

Alfred placed his hands gently on her shoulders and guided her carefully to the main chair in front of the computer. When she sat down, he reached over to the console and began typing commands. "Master Bruce believes his security features are known only to himself. Needless to say one does not spend as much time as I do in this cave without picking up on some things."

Diana couldn't help but smile at the undisguised smug satisfaction in Alfred's voice.

As he pressed key after key, he spoke quietly to Diana. "Master Bruce…he cares for you very much, Miss."

The comment seemed to shake Diana out of her stupor. "What? I know, Alfred. I…Alfred you know I love him. Very much."

Alfred's typing hesitated for a millisecond. "Yes, Miss...I do indeed." He stood up straight, clasped his hands behind his back and again regarded the monitor. "I just hope that you realize the true depths of his love for you, Miss, despite his unfortunate tendency for presenting to you the opposite."

Diana followed Alfred's gaze to the monitor and was shocked to see the image from the Watchtower conference room. "This is what Bruce was looking at?"

"Yes, Miss." Alfred nodded though she wasn't looking at him. "When I came down here, not long before your arrival, he was looking at this, rather intently I would say."

Diana studied the image and remembered Kal's first day back with the League. He was there along with everyone else, including Bruce. She smiled at his place in the picture, so like him to be in the background as far away as possible from the center of attention. "I don't understand, Alfred. Why was he looking at this?"

Alfred hesitated and she turned towards him. "Please, Alfred. If you know anything about why Bruce is so…" She didn't even know how to describe it. "I need to know, Alfred."

Alfred realized that she did indeed have a right to know, and he doubted very much that his stubborn master would willing, or able, to tell her. He sighed slightly and bent down to the console again, punched a few more keys and resumed his previous position. When Diana looked back to the monitor her eyes opened even wider than before. On the screen was the cropped version of the previous image made up predominantly of her and Kal. She turned to Alfred once again.

"He was sitting here, Miss", stated Alfred quietly as he looked at the image, though he could still see her out of the corner of his eye, "looking at this when he said to himself, 'There it is. The fourth reason'." He turned his head to his left to look at Diana and asked, "Do you have any idea what that might mean, Miss?"

Diana sat back in the chair. Her eyes focused on nothing in particular as she thought hard about Alfred's question. _"The fourth reason"_, she repeated internally. _"Fourth reason? For what?_" She looked up and her vision came into focus on the picture of her and Kal. For a blink of an eye something inside her commented that it understood why the press, and even some of their friends, always said they were a cute couple…that they belonged together. _"Cute couple?"_ She sat up in the chair and her eyes opened wide in realization. "The fourth reason", she muttered out loud followed by a feeble, "Hera." She felt the color drain from her face as her mind went over the information.

None of which escaped the attention of Alfred. "Miss?" Prompted Alfred after several moments without further explanation.

Diana's head shook from left to right slightly as she tried to explain. "Years ago", she began softly, "Bruce and I were on a stakeout. There was talk that Intergang wanted the Rosetta Stone. Anyway, as we waited I made a comment that…" she smiled weakly as she glanced at Alfred, "…well, let's just say that Bruce felt compelled to give his reasons against our being in a relationship." She looked at the monitor and added softly, "There were three reasons."

Understanding bloomed in Alfred's mind. Bruce believed that the return of Superman posed a threat to his relationship with Diana. "Absurd", he mumbled crossly.

Diana never looked at Alfred, though she agreed with his statement wholeheartedly, and then some. Reaching over and hitting the necessary button, she brought the first image back up on the monitor. She studied Bruce, noticing for the first time the hard set of his jaw, the narrowed white eyes of the cowl and the fact that his cape was drawn tightly around him. Knowing him as well as she did and with the understanding of what he might have been thinking, she'd be willing to bet her lasso that his hands were closed into white knuckled fists underneath the cape.

Finally, she looked up to Alfred.

"Where is he Alfred?"

Her voice failed to restrain the anger and disappointment she felt for both Bruce and herself, causing Alfred to flinch at the sound of her voice. Guilt and remorse overrode her anger, but just for a moment. It was just too strong to be kept at bay for long.

Alfred hesitated for a moment, gauging the situation as he had done countless times before to see if any good could come from what was apparently a no win situation. Finally he reached over and searched for Batman's locator beacon. Alfred had been around heroes and villains long enough to know his limitations. In his final analysis, a seething Amazon was a force that was beyond even his ability to successfully deal with.

Alfred's mouth formed a tight line, separating only enough to tell Diana the bare minimum of what he saw on the screen. "It appears, Miss, that he has disabled his personal locator beacon."

Diana's blood was boiling. Struggling to keep her composure in front of Alfred, she took a deep breath and was disturbed by the very un-Amazon like shudder that accompanied the action. She attributed it to the blazing fury that she felt at the moment, but deep down in a place she rarely let herself visit rested the fear that something had happened to him. He hadn't been gone long enough for anything to happen, her mind tried to tell her, but she knew that in his line of work it didn't take long.

"Please, Miss", Alfred placed his hand on her right hand, as he spoke reassuringly, "it is not an unusual occurrence." When Diana turned to him with her eyes full of worry he continued. "Master Bruce occasionally turns of his locator if he is meeting a", he hesitated for a moment, "sensitive informant." She still didn't look convinced. "Master Bruce's paranoia, for lack of a better term, demands that he protect his informants, Miss Diana. He believes that, despite his numerous precautions, there is the remote possibility that an outside source may be able to tap into his signal."

She sat motionless for a moment and thought about Alfred's explanation, and it sounded like Bruce for sure. Besides, she had never known Alfred to lie to her, never known him to sugar coat anything. "Did he have any such appointments tonight, Alfred?"

He had hoped she wouldn't ask that question. "Not that I am aware of, Miss, though with the master one hardly knows for certain."

"What about the Batmobile, Alfred?"

Alfred leaned forward and punched a single button, then stood back to allow her to read the information.

Diana placed her hands on the computer console and said to Alfred, "Thank you, Alfred", then pushed herself up out of the chair. She walked in a strong and steady stride the turntable that was the Batmobile's usual resting place then lifted into the damp air of the cave. She glided up to the takeoff tunnel reserved for the Batwing and flew into it. She knew the tunnel intimately having used it before on many occasions and had no concern at her velocity. The runway lights flashed in her eyes at an increasing rapidity as she pushed herself to go faster, and seconds later the chilly night air greeted her as she zoomed up into the dark Gotham skies.

Diana took a calming breath, got her bearings and headed to where the Batmobile was parked.

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"They still haven't fixed it", thought Batman as his gauntleted hand gently ran over the rough surface of the statue. He was somewhat surprised by the discovery. The gargoyle whose head Diana crushed with only her right hand was still headless after six years. 

He looked over to the Natural History Museum and remembered that night, the night he gave Diana his reasons for not pursuing a relationship. He almost smiled as he remembered the look on her face that night just after decapitating the gargoyle. She looked at him as though he hadn't stated anything important, let alone relevant to their discussion. Dating within the team leading to trouble, immortality and issues, and concern for her safety. They were the best reasons he could come up with, the ones he kept telling himself whenever his desire for her reared its ugly head. She spent the next few months proving that he hadn't said anything that mattered; that his excuses were hollow attempts at keeping her away from him. Her tenacity finally wore him down. It was one of her attributes that endeared her to him.

_"The fourth reason."_ The mantra echoed through his mind during the entire drive from the cave to his staging point. It even rang out as he aimed and fired his grappling line up to his first target.

And it repeated itself now as the memories played themselves out.

Batman sighed heavily, just as the alarms went off. His head snapped to the Natural History Museum just in time to see the all too familiar silhouette of his nemesis bolt through the side door.

He pulled out his grapple, aimed and fired as he mumbled, "Joker." He jumped off the building even before the grappling hook hit its target. As soon as it did he hit the high-speed retractor and he sped through the night sky to land silently right in the middle of the Joker's escape route.

Joker was looking behind himself as he ran down the alley and didn't see Batman blocking his path, that is until he turned just in time to see his least favorite bat in the world. He swerved to avoid hitting the Caped Crusader, only to have Batman throw a bola around his ankles. Joker crashed to the ground, his loot, a variety of very rare Spanish doubloons, flew out of the makeshift sac the Joker had in his hands and began spinning all around him.

Batman slowly walked up to the super villain. "Gold, Joker?" The right side of his mouth lifted just a little bit. "You must be running out of original ideas to be resorting to petty theft."

Joker untied the bola and lifted his right knee up to rest his elbow on it. As he laid his chin on top of his hand he responded. "Even I have to pay the bills, Bats." His hand left his chin and he wiggled his index finger at Batman as he added sadly, "First-class henchmen don't come cheap you know!"

Batman was expecting something more. Some sort of unflattering dig; a question about how Batman knew to be there at the right time; even the usual 'You're despicable'.

Nothing.

Nothing except the slow expansion of an evil looking smile (was there any other kind of smile for the Joker?) on his face. Batman's eyes narrowed and he stepped quickly to his left just in time to avoid the Batman-sized wooden mallet of Harley Quinn.

He had to duck to avoid the mallet again and it went crashing into the wall causing a significant hole in the brick facade. Harley tried to pull the mallet out, but it was wedged in the hole it had made too tightly. Forced to abandon the mallet, she turned and put up her hands in the classic karate starting position.

Batman lifted an eyebrow and quickly scanned the area. No more henchmen were around, and Joker had taken the opportunity to make himself very scarce.

"Arkham is waiting, Harley", Batman stated in his gravelly voice, "and Joker has abandoned you." He narrowed his eyes at her and intensified his scowl.

She was unfazed by his effort.

"Not a chance, Batsy! Let's go…my puddin' is waiting for me." Harley tried a spin kick to his head with her right foot, which he easily avoided. She charged towards him and he simply moved out of the way, slapping one side of a set of Batcuffs onto her right wrist. She came to a skidding halt and watched the cuffs dangle from her wrist in astonishment.

She growled and came at him again, and once again Batman deftly avoided the charge. Harley tripped and began a fall towards the wall and she managed to twist enough to avoid going face first into the wall. Instead she hit the wall back on with a resounding and very painful thump.

Harley shook her head to clear away the stars that had magically appeared around her head when she realized that both her wrists were now connected to each other via a set of Batcuffs. Her eyes bulged open as she looked up to see Batman slowly approach her.

She didn't have time to come up with a witty barb, biting comment or plea for mercy. Just as she opened her mouth a very small piece of debris hit the top of her head, followed quickly by a larger piece that hit her left shoulder. Harley Quinn saw Batman smirk ever so smugly, and then tipped her head back to look up to find the source of the falling objects. Her eyes focused just in time to see her mallet dislodge itself from the wall and descend rapidly towards her head.

All she had time to say was a very soft, "Uh oh", before her lights were turned out.

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Thirty minutes later two of Gotham's finest led a conscious Harley Quinn past Batman and Commissioner Jim Gordon.

As she passed by him, Harley smiled and said in as cheerful a voice as he had ever heard, "We'll see you soon, Bats."

Batman narrowed his eyes. As he stepped forward he growled, "Wait." The guards stopped and faced him. Batman walked up to face Harley, then shot a menacing glance to each of the guards who simultaneously swallowed and backed off.

He relaxed his posture minutely and his voice was a gentle baritone when he spoke. "Why?" His jaw twitched as he thought for a moment about the wisdom of having this discussion with Harley Quinn. "He abandoned you tonight."

Harley looked into the cowl-covered eyes of Batman and answered his question like it should have been obvious. "I love my puddin'."

"Love isn't always enough." Batman took a quick breath, narrowed his eyes and added harshly, "He left you here tonight to take the fall. Betrayed you. That doesn't bother you?"

"No, Batman…it doesn't." She leaned in closer to Batman and whispered with as much sincerity as he had ever heard from her, "Because no matter what he does, he comes to get me or he waits for me." She looked him square in the eye. "And I know he needs me."

She stepped back and Batman couldn't help but marvel inwardly at the confidence in her voice. To her he adopted a cynical expression. "He hurts you and you still love him? That doesn't make sense."

Harley Quinn smiled widely, winked and gave Batman her musical response. "Maybe, but no one said love's supposed to make sense."

Batman's white eyes narrowed again and he stepped back. He motioned with his hand for the guards to escort Harley to the waiting police van, and as he watched her go Gordon stepped up beside him.

"What was that all about?" asked the commissioner.

"Interrogation", came the monotone response.

Gordon's eyebrows rose in surprise. He kept his eyes on the van as the guards closed the doors. "Get anything out of her?"

Batman cast a sidelong glance at Gordon and hesitated only a second before saying truthfully, "More than I expected."

That got Gordon's attention. He turned to ask him what he had discovered only to find himself alone in the alley. His lips tugged downward into a frown and he ran his right hand through his gray hair. "I really hate it when he does that."

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_"What now?"_ Diana thought dejectedly as she waited not so patiently.

Diana found the car right where the Batcomputer said it would be, in a darkened alley that she could easily tell was used infrequently at best. She never approached the car knowing that its owner would have its security systems enabled. The last thing she needed was paralyzing gas, electrical charges and Hera knew what else hitting her.

Instead she waited on the roof of a nearby building to wait for Batman to return. Diana stood near the edge of the building closest to the Batmobile, leaning over enough to rest her hands on the waist high wall running along the perimeter of the roof. She looked up and scanned the surrounding rooftops, waiting and hoping for Bruce to get back soon. There was no sign of him anywhere.

Of course she realized that if Bruce didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be able to find him.

Diana let her head drop, her chin nearly resting on her chest, and sighed. The flight from the manor to the alley gave her just enough time to calm down enough to keep from doing damage to anyone or anything. Now, as she stood waiting, she had time to think.

She thought back to their adventure with Circe and the talk they had before Circe made the unfortunate change in her appearance.

Diana couldn't help but smile at the memory, even though smiling was the last thing she wanted to do. It was an interesting conversation. She flirted with Bruce and he went all 'Batman' on her, as Wally would say, methodically recounting his reasons why they shouldn't get involved.

His three reasons. They didn't hold water as far as she was concerned…a point she made when she crushed the gargoyle's head in her hand. She was sure she heard and saw him gulp when she did it, and his repeated denials whenever she mentioned it since only served to reinforce that opinion.

The dreamy smile she wore as she reminisced flattened out and a sad hue filtered into her blue eyes. Now that she thought about it, maybe that gulp wasn't a sign of nervousness or awe after all. Maybe, he was trying to tell her something else. Maybe he was going to tell her his fourth reason. Maybe…

Her head rose towards the heavens. "Enough maybes!" she shouted into the night. After the small echo of her words faded she scrutinized the rooftops again in search of Batman. Again she found nothing.

"The fourth reason", she muttered incredulously. And of all the reasons he could manage, or invent, that was the most ludicrous one. Certainly when she first joined the League there was an attraction to the Man of Steel, but so was there an attraction to the Dark Knight. Over time the attraction to Bruce grew, while the attraction to Superman changed into friendship…a very strong friendship, but a friendship nonetheless.

There was something about Bruce that she naturally gravitated towards. She had tried to pinpoint it over the years but there were so many reasons to love him that she decided that finding just one was futile. The most obvious attraction to Bruce was his warrior spirit. He had no super powers, only his intellect and his force of will. He was who and what he was, as formidable a force as any other League member, because he had made it so. For that he earned her respect…and eventually her love.

Besides, Kal had Lois…

Diana's hands suddenly crushed the bricks of the wall she was leaning on and her heart was beating so fast it felt as though it were trying to win a race against Hermes himself. She stood up and looked at her hands, which had turned into fists of their own accord, and realized that she was grinding the remnants of the brick into her palms. She couldn't feel it.

She took a deep breath, let it out slowly and tried to get her heart rate to slow down. It took several moments but she finally calmed down enough to open her hands and let the dust fall to the rooftop. She never even bothered to wipe the rest off and her arms fell to hang limply by her sides.

"Lois." Now she understood, partly at least, what brought this night on.

Lois and Kal were finished…for now. Diana believed in her heart however, that that was only temporary and that the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter still loved Kal. They would reunite, she was certain of it. Especially once their child needed his father…

Apparently Bruce didn't share that belief.

Diana walked a few steps to her left to get a better view of some movement on a far off rooftop, only to catch a glimpse of two lovers showing each other how much they meant to each other. Diana smiled and moved another few steps so that she wouldn't be intruding on the intimate time.

As she leaned over and put her hands on the wall again she thought about the last time she was with Bruce in that fashion. The more she thought about it the more she realized that it had been a while…a very long while compared to how often they usually made love. Her brows knitted together as she tried to figure out what was happening.

She hadn't even seen Bruce in a while, now that she thought about it. She had been spending most of her time lately on the Watchtower, but Bruce seemed to be spending most of his time in Gotham, with limited visits to the tower.

A pervasive emptiness settled into her stomach, a feeling that something had been missing for a while. It dawned on her that the realization that she hadn't been with the man she loved for so long might have something to do with it. Her right hand left the top of the wall and rested against her abdomen, as though trying to reassure it that everything would be as it should; that Bruce still loved her and that they would prevail over…

Over what? Kal?

She shook her head slightly in disbelief over the idea. For years they had been together through it all, especially the absence of their friend and de facto League leader. When Kal left it was up to her and Bruce more than anybody to keep the League together and functioning properly. It even had the fortunate (for her) result of making Bruce spend more time aboard the tower.

Anger began to swell beneath her breastbone and she could hear the telltale whistle of fury in her ears. Diana stood up, never noticing that her hands clenched into diamond hard fists, and glanced around the rooftops again before lifting up into the dark skies of his city.

She'd had enough waiting around. It was time to take the Minotaur by the horns and deal with this situation. She flew around to some of the places that she knew he frequented. He had a number of different patrol routines and she had no way of knowing which particular one he was using, or if he had something special planned.

While she flew she tried to decipher why she was so furious at Bruce, besides the fact that his current attitude was a shining example of why perhaps the Amazons had the right idea after all, keeping away from men. It was more than that.

His earlier wordless and rapid departure from the Batcave wasn't the cause of her anger, though it was a symptom of the underlying problem to be sure. Bruce believed that she had feelings for Kal, even now after all they had been through together, as friends and as partners in every sense of the word. That angered her.

Bruce hadn't talked to her about any of it…Kal's return, or his thoughts or his fears. Granted, getting Bruce to talk about his fears was slightly less perilous than pulling a tooth from Cerberus, but it had happened.

Then again, she knew that Bruce wasn't a touchy-feely and forthcoming man…it was another one of the things that she loved about him, his dark side. She loved that she had to work to get anything deeply personal from him, as the results when she succeeded always far outweighed the hardships she endured in getting them. She was always overwhelmed when he opened up to her, for once he opened up she experienced something that perhaps no one else had ever seen before, and they were always better off for going through it.

Still, he should have talked to her about Kal.

The anger began to subside, began to be replaced by sadness over his inability to trust her enough to talk to her, and worry that they may not be able to overcome this crisis, just as she finally found the man she sought as he stood on the roof of Wayne Enterprises. His hand to his ear indicated that he was talking on his communicator so she tried successfully not to intrude by listening. She waited, floating a few feet above the roof and behind Batman with her arms folded across her chest.

Batman finally brought his hand down, and when she saw his hand move in a fashion that she had learned was to retrieve his grapple, she landed on the roof to talk to Batman…Bruce…her love.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks Jenn for all your help and encouragement, You still rock.

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A short time after leaving Jim Gordon alone and slightly befuddled in the alley next to the Natural History Museum, Batman landed on the roof of the Wayne Enterprises building. He moved to the blind spot he had built there, somewhere he could rest if he needed to and stock up on any items he might need, like batarangs. He didn't need to retool, and he no longer felt tired enough to want to rest, despite the fact that it was after three in the morning and it had been a long day. He did however, need to think.

"Diana", he whispered into the night sky.

Harley's loyalty to the Joker was as deranged as the maniac himself. Yet, if he took her at her word, she loved the criminal. Time after time, the Joker hurt, abandoned, sacrificed and abused Harley Quinn, and she still loved him. It either made her a fool or a very loving person.

Harley wasn't a fool…she was intelligent enough in her own right. Unstable, certainly, and slightly psychotic, maybe, but definitely intelligent.

Loving?

The thought unsettled him like very few things did. After all, if Harley was a loving person and refused to give up on that love no matter what was thrown against it, what did that make him for all but abandoning his love for Diana?

Diana was everything the Joker wasn't, besides the obvious anatomical differences of course. She was beautiful in every sense of the word…inside and out. Intelligent, caring, loyal to a fault…he could go on and on.

And he loved her, more than he had ever loved anyone in his life. In their years together he let her get closer than anyone ever had…and he accepted it with a willingness and ease that surprised him. Not only did he trust her with his life on a regular basis, but he also trusted her with most of his deepest secrets, feelings and even hopes. She was the only person he ever felt comfortable enough with doing so. She managed to find levels in him that no one had ever explored before, that he never even knew he had.

Yet he was willing to throw it all away without a fight. Over five years of painstakingly building a relationship, seemingly brick by brick, with the most wondrous of women and he was giving it up without a fight. What did that make him?

Batman shook his pointy-eared head and almost laughed at himself. He never gave up on anything in his life, yet he was willing to give up on what amounted to the most important thing he had ever obtained and achieved. Was he a weak fool?

Diana loved him in spite of his eccentricity, in spite of his aloofness and in spite of everything else that caused the others in his life to eventually run for the hills, including Batman. He was flushing her love down the proverbial toilet. Would he become a lonely fool?

Then, of course, there was the off chance that he was wrong. What if Diana was just being a friend to Clark…something he surely needed in this world that had changed so much in the time he was gone? His arrogance hadn't allowed him to talk to her about Clark, so what if there was nothing there? What if his mistrustful mind was making something of nothing and he lost that which he loved because of it? Was he nothing more than a proud fool?

He knew Alfred could tell what was bothering him and he remembered what Alfred said before he left the cave. _"I would suggest that if you want the criminals of Gotham to feel the wrath of Batman tonight, you should stop worrying needlessly about Miss Diana and go terrorize them."_

Worrying needlessly? Is that what he was doing?

He thought back to every memory of Diana that he had catalogued in his own internal memory banks. The amount of memories he had of her was extensive to put it mildly. For nearly thirty minutes he remembered her…the way she looked at various times and during certain occasions; certain things she said that, whether she was aware of it or not touched him, like the first time she told him she loved him; battles they fought together; the times he woke up in the infirmary and saw her worried face looking back at him as well as the times he watched over her as she healed from injuries; and a plethora of other memories.

During those times, he realized with an honest and somewhat unfamiliar pang of regret, not once in their history did she ever give him a reason to doubt her as a colleague, partner or lover. Not when Clark was gone. Not when he was around either.

Batman sighed and realized that he was in deep, very deep trouble.

He looked to the sky and saw a multitude of stars and a thought occurred to him. He wasn't particularly sure that Diana would be receptive to seeing him any time soon. The next best thing would be a message…an apologetic message. He tapped his communicator and called the Watchtower. Batman was slightly relieved when J'onn answered as opposed to someone like Flash. J'onn would be discreet about what he was about to do, and right now that was definitely a good thing for him.

"J'onn", began Batman. "I want to leave a message for Dia…for Wonder Woman." He thought for a moment and added a little more hastily than he meant, "A personal message."

"Of course, Batman", replied J'onn as though what Batman was doing was perfectly normal. "The recorders are active."

Batman thought for a moment about what to say and perhaps more importantly how to say it. When he finally spoke, it was in the voice that only she got to hear. It was the voice that he used when he told her his secrets, when he told her his plans and when he told her he loved her. It was the voice that told her it was really him speaking not one of the masks. It was his essence speaking…his very soul.

"Diana. I know you're angry." He paused for a second and swallowed the lump in his throat that he assumed was his pride. "I understand why you're angry. I've behaved badly tonight and I just wanted to say ", he sighed and as sincerely as he could added, "I'm sorry, Diana. When you get this call me." Before he knew it his mouth fell open of its own accord and uttered the word he seldom sincerely used. "Please."

Slipping back into Bat mode he added for J'onn's benefit, "Message complete. Batman out."

Batman looked to the stars again and wondered how he had screwed things up so badly. Not finding any answers in the dancing specks of light he reached for his grapple but stopped when he heard footsteps behind him and whirled around, producing a batarang instead of the grapple in his right hand and holding it up high at the ready as he searched for the intruder.

She was standing there with her arms folded across her chest. The wind was causing her hair to blow around her and the moonlight was glinting off her crystal blue eyes like diamonds.

_"Beautiful"_, his mind said even as he finally lowered the batarang and took a long look at the vision of heavenly beauty standing before him. The dark hue in her usually bright eyes told him everything he needed to know. _"Very deep trouble."_ He had to fight down his sizable instinct for self-preservation and stand his ground, though he pulled his cape in tight around him out of personal comfort more than anything else.

Diana's eyes avoided his, settling on the rooftop near his boots. "Have these last five years meant nothing to you, Bruce?"

He fought down the urge to scold her for using his name in an unsecured area…that was the least of his concerns at the moment. _"Straight to the point"_, he thought morbidly. He was surprised to hear her voice so soft, not full of anger as he suspected it would be but full of sadness and resignation. He had expected her to rip into him about his behavior and his rapid departure from the cave without so much as a word. He expected her to be upset…very upset.

"All these years I thought I managed to prove to you that my heart belongs to you." She looked up and found the white slits of the cowl. "Only to you."

The way she emphasized 'only to you' told him just how wrong he had been and he felt his shoulders automatically slump before he could stop it. _"She's figured it out"_, he realized and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or upset about it, though it certainly eliminated some of the explaining he thought he had to do.

As if to confirm his observation she whispered softly, "The fourth reason."

His eyes opened and locked onto hers. The pain he now saw in her eyes rendered him speechless. There was nothing he could say. He was wrong about what he thought, his own insightful ruminations along with the obvious anguish in Diana's eyes more than verified that, and for the first time in a very long time Batman could summon neither the desire nor wherewithal to offer a justification of any kind.

"Have you always believed that I have feelings for him?" Diana shook her head as she whispered as though she couldn't believe that she was saying it, "Other than feelings of friendship?"

It was a simple enough question with an answer she obviously knew, though for the life of him he couldn't answer it.

"We've been through a lot, you and I." Diana took three steps toward him to bring her close enough for him to easily see the rapid pumping of her carotid artery. "I have never felt about anyone else the way I feel about you." Her voice and eyes pleaded with him when she asked, "You believe that don't you?"

_"Of course I do!"_ shouted his mind, though once again his mouth failed him and didn't repeat the message.

"Stop being so childish about this, Bruce!" Diana yelled as she let anger into her voice for the first time since finding him. She wanted to get some sort of reaction from him, anything to show her that he cared enough to be listening. She could tell that his eyebrow had lifted as a sign of disbelief. "Yes, Bruce…childish." She took a small step towards him, daring him to move away and to stay still at the same time, locking him in the classic no-win situation. "It's childish…" She had to stop when the giant clock on the next building began to chime…loudly given their proximity to it. She looked over and absently noted the time, and when the bells finished ringing she tried again. "It's childish to believe that I have any feelings for Kal. You're behavior tonight was childish, and you're being childish now by not talking to me."

"If getting upset over the fact that the woman I love more than my own life is…constantly fawning over someone who all but abandoned us is childish, so be it." Damn his defense mechanism! He hadn't meant for that to come out, and he only minimally believed it in the first place, even less so now. He had been around enough and gone through enough issues of his own to appreciate Clark's need for answers and some solitude…some soul searching. He didn't agree with how Clark did it, but that was rapidly becoming beside the point.

It was when her eyes opened wide and her mouth opened without saying anything that Bruce realized he had gone farther, much farther, than he had intended to. It was time to tone it down and reel in the freight train that his frustration, paranoia and regret had become.

"Diana", he began softly only to be interrupted by her quiet voice.

"I love you, Bruce." She took a quick ragged breath that nearly tore his heart from his chest before she spoke again. "Hera help me, I do." Her right hand slipped over her hip and moved up to hold her let forearm. "Even now, after finding out that you think that I would so easily discard everything that I have worked so hard to build with you, I still love you."

The raw emotion coming from Diana was staggering, and unfortunately for Batman it had the devastating result of negating every word he tried to say. He wanted to say he was sorry for hurting her, that he loved her and that he no longer believed that Clark was a threat to them.

He just physically couldn't.

"I don't know what to do, Bruce." Diana lowered her arms to let them rest against her sides. "I've done everything I could to show you that I love you and that I want to be with you." She shrugged her bare, moonlit shoulders and gently shook her head. "But it's all laid to waste by something as simple as the return of our friend." Her arms moved and folded across her stomach, which felt increasingly like it was being torn to shreds and her eyes begged for an answer. "What does that say about you?" Her voice dropped to a whisper as she added almost painfully, "About us?"

When he hesitated she turned and began to walk away from him, her posture sure and her steps confident. His body, vocal cords, muscles, everything refused to work. He wanted…he needed to stop her from leaving but he just couldn't. He watched helplessly as she lifted gracefully off the rooftop and slipped into the black Gotham night.

As she faded into the distance, his mouth finally opened to reveal to the world at large the cold hard truth. "It says I'm a fool."

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Diana left the roof of Wayne Enterprises and flew away from Bruce, wishing with all of her soul that he would call out to her, to tell her what she needed to hear to give her the hope she needed to know that everything would be alright.

He didn't call out to her.

Her pride wouldn't let her look back to the rooftop, much less turn around and try again. She made her plea, which was more of an action than she would have thought possible five years ago. He just stood there and looked at her without a word, except for that idiotic comment defending his childishness behavior.

It was a bittersweet moment for her to be sure. In one breath he managed to lift her spirits to the heights of Olympus by calling her the woman he loved, then sent those same spirits crashing to Earth by implying that she was - what was his word? Fawning? Fawning over Kal. It was enough to give her a headache.

And the headache is what she blamed for the steady stream of tears as she flew around the skies of his city, not the pain and heartache of it all. She had been flying for nearly ten minutes when she realized that she was almost to the manor and she stopped in mid-air, hovering as she contemplated whether to go to what had essentially been her home for the past five years and talk to Alfred.

Diana thought about that for a moment. Alfred would be most willing to render any assistance he could, and with his relationship to Bruce being as fundamentally solid as it was, that assistance would be helpful, as it had been on numerous occasions.

She sighed tiredly and turned away from Wayne Manor, flying at a relaxed pace to nowhere in particular. She refused to drag Alfred into this crisis. It was late and Alfred, though young at heart and as sharp of mind as anyone she knew, was too…mature to be bothered with Bruce's attitude.

She could fly to New York, but she knew that the late hour was catching up to her. She could call the Watchtower to teleport her to New York, or up to the tower for that matter, but that would give the rumor mill, AKA Wally, something to talk about. No, a place in Gotham was the preferred choice at the moment.

Then she remembered the League's visitor's suite. She changed her course and headed to the apartment complex that Bruce owned, and in which he kept a suite available for League members when they visited Gotham. It was originally setup as a place for her to stay in the initial stages of their relationship.

She had thought that it was his way of keeping her at a distance, of not letting her get too close and she was pissed about it. She smiled as she remembered storming into the Batcave to tell Bruce where to shove the apartment, only to find Alfred dusting the Batcomputer with one of those funny looking feather dusters.

Alfred managed to calm her down and they had a long talk about Bruce and his actions. With Alfred's help, Diana realized the suite was Bruce's way of giving her the option of not staying at the manor; of not putting any pressure on her and not pushing her into something she may not have been ready for; of showing her that if she didn't feel comfortable in the manor he was okay with it; that she was under no obligations of any kind.

After Diana told Bruce in no uncertain terms that the apartment was not necessary, he kept it as a League apartment. It was always dangerous when League members stayed at the manor when they were in Gotham, not that that happened often. Bruce was always concerned that any visitors could be followed to the manor, or be seen entering or exiting, thereby compromising his identity.

Diana found the suite and landed on the balcony with less grace than usual and had to reach out with her hand and steady herself against the door. The certainty she showed to Bruce as she left the roof of Wayne Enterprises was a sham, and she knew it. It took all of her strength to keep from faltering and now it was catching up to her. She took a few minutes to regain her composure, and after finding the secret access panel and entering the proper code, she entered the suite. It was luxurious by any standards, and Bruce always kept it well stocked and ready to be used in case of emergency. She gave the suite a cursory glance and headed straight for the bedroom.

Some Leaguers kept some spare clothes and uniforms in the apartment. Unfortunately, she didn't, opting instead to keep her belongings at the manor. She approached a dresser and opened a drawer that she knew that Shayera had appropriated as her own, much to the chagrin of some of the others. In it she found several nightdresses, all of which naturally had wide-open backs.

Diana smiled and picked out a short, silver silk nightdress. She changed into it, leaving her bracelets on and laying her uniform on a nearby chair. Her stomach growled and she realized she couldn't remember the last time she ate anything, but her heart just wasn't in it. She went to the bed, and got in, laying down on her back with the sheet pulled up past her waist. She stared at the ceiling, remembering the events of the evening, and trying to figure out how to make Bruce see, once and for all, that he was the only man she loved.

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As Diana tried to discover a way to show Bruce her love, the object of her thoughts was arriving home. The Batmobile rumbled to a stop on its turntable-resting place in the Batcave. Batman deftly jumped out of the vehicle and immediately noticed the sight of Alfred in the chair in front of the computer. It was obvious that he had been asleep, though Alfred would hardly admit to it.

"You told her", he ground out as he approached the older man. He was certain that Alfred had realized the nature of Bruce's fool mood of late, and catching him looking at the picture of Diana and Clark earlier probably verified it for him. It was also a certainty that Alfred heard his remark about the fourth reason. Alfred then told Diana who put two and two together, ironically enough to come up with the fourth reason. Simple deduction.

Alfred fixed Batman with a steely look. "Yes, Master Bruce, I did. For her sake…and yours." He shuffled in the chair trying without being obvious to stretch out the kinks he was feeling from sitting in a chair. Bruce couldn't be certain, but as Alfred stretched he thought he heard him mutter under his breath, "And mine."

Batman watched with some concern as Alfred tried unsuccessfully to get up out of the oversized chair. He reached forward to help the man who was old enough to be his father, and in many ways was exactly that. As his gauntleted hand fell upon Alfred's arm he muttered, "You're getting too old for this, Alfred."

Alfred's eyes burned with fury as he pushed Batman's hand away from him and all but sprang up out of the chair. He came within inches of Batman and nearly shook with barely contained anger born of Bruce's brutish behavior towards Diana, and the disrespectful tone that came with his offer of assistance. "I have never lamented over my advanced years, Master Bruce. I have considered my age an asset and not a detriment." He tugged on his butler's jacket to straighten out a wrinkle obtained from his crumpled position in the chair. "I do however, lament the fact that I am too old to take you over my knee and tan your posterior for your ill-mannered behavior of late, as you most certainly deserve."

Bruce was astonished by the brutality of Alfred's outburst and the split second widening of the white eyes of his cowl was more than enough to show it to Alfred.

Pleased that he had been able to elicit some semblance of an emotional reaction from Bruce, Alfred took a moment to compose himself and added, "Your treatment tonight of Miss Diana was atrocious, Master Bruce." He bowed and shook his head as he continued. "I am saddened and ashamed that I have so failed in my duty if I raised you to be such a man."

Batman reached up with his right hand and removed the cowl that kept the concern and regret in his eyes from reaching Alfred's vision. "You mean such a fool."

Alfred looked up into the blue eyes of the man he raised as he would have his own son. He agreed with him of course, but he hoped that Bruce would continue on…that perhaps he had an epiphany of sorts. He stayed silent and watched the younger man struggle to find the right words.

Bruce looked beyond Alfred's left shoulder to a blank point on the far wall of the cave, unable to meet Alfred's expectant gaze. "I realized that I've been a fool, Alfred. I was willing to let her go…to push her away without a fight." His mouth twitched in a resigned smile. "All because I couldn't believe that her love for me is complete."

"As yours is for her", prompted Alfred.

Bruce nodded eagerly, relieved that Alfred understood. "Yes. I let myself get caught up in the public perception of Diana and Superman as a couple, let my paranoia enhance the intensity and assumed that they couldn't have feelings for each other that didn't cross the line of friendship." Bruce looked to Alfred. "I allowed my jealousy and insecurity to break through and suffocate the trust and…and the love that we've built up." His eyes turned cold. "Never again. I let it hurt her tonight. Never again"

Alfred straightened up and smiled at his charge. "Perhaps my efforts have not been completely wasted after all." One gray eyebrow rose up. "Did you explain that to her and apologize, young man?"

Bruce's miniscule jaw clench told Alfred that he hadn't, but before he could further admonish him Bruce added, "She wouldn't let me." There was no malice or regret in his voice…only understanding. "I was fairly certain she was angry when I left, so I left a message for her telling her I was sorry and asking her to call me. I doubt she'll ever listen to it because she found me and let me have it just as I finished it." Bruce took a deep breath and let out a very loud sigh. "I've made a mess of it, Alfred."

Alfred cleared his throat and lifted his chin a quarter of an inch. "Yes, well, it was a virtual inevitability, Master Bruce." At Bruce's questioning look Alfred merely stated, "I believe Master Dick wins the pool."

Bruce couldn't tell if Alfred was joking or not, and deciding that he might not like the answer, he didn't ask. "I have to fix this, Alfred."

"Go to her, Master Bruce." It wasn't a plea. It wasn't an order. It wasn't even a suggestion. It sounded to Bruce like a combination of those things. One thing was for certain...no matter what label he put on it, the course of action was the same: go see her.

Bruce nodded. "I assume given the events of this evening Diana has opted not to stay in the manor?"

Alfred nodded morbidly. "That would be a safe assumption, Master Bruce." He nodded towards the Batcomputer and added, "Though I have taken the liberty of checking on her location. She is staying in the visitor's suite."

Bruce didn't quite smile at Alfred's foresight. It was Alfred, after all. "Thank you, Alfred", he said as he pulled his cowl back on and started towards the Batmobile. He was almost to it when Alfred's voice stopped him.

"Please tread carefully, Master Bruce. Her heart is wounded and she may not want to listen." Alfred clasped his hands behind his back. "You must do your best to get her to listen." His mouth didn't quite form a smile. "Besides, I picked three years from now in the pool."

This time Batman couldn't keep the smile from his lips, and despite the joy it gave to Alfred, all he did was stoically observe the younger man as he spoke.

"Thank you, old friend." Batman pointed to the stairs and said in the tone of a son talking to his father, "Good night, Alfred. And take tomorrow off."

As the Batmobile sped out the tunnel a minute later, Alfred Pennyworth gingerly walked to the stairs and muttered under his breath, "Children."

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It didn't take long to get to the apartment and get inside. He found Diana in the bed covered only by a thin sheet. Her eyes were still open and looking up at the ceiling. Her hands rested on her stomach, one on top of the other. She looked very deep in thought and didn't seem to notice him enter through the patio doors.

Or so he thought.

"What do you want, Bruce?" Her voice was soft and sweet even behind the bitterness he heard in it. She turned her head to look at him and didn't even attempt to hide the anger her eyes mirrored from within her.

He pulled off his cowl and held it in his right hand. He looked at it for a moment and then turned his gaze to her. "Did you get my message?" The question hung in the air for several moments without either of them speaking. Finally Diana broke the silence.

"It's late, Bruce", she said tiredly as she closed her eyes. "Go home and let me get some sleep."

"I'll take that as a 'no' then."

"Take it as you wish", Diana bitterly told him, "as you do with everything else."

The comment stung, but it was deserved and he knew it. He decided to ignore it. "Messages vetted through the Watchtower have an audio time stamp embedded in them two seconds after the end of the message."

Diana's frustrated groan stopped him from proceeding. She sat up on the bed, letting her hands rest on either side of her and just behind to help keep her upright. The sheet she had over her pooled across her hips as they slid down her flat belly, and she was pleased to see his naked eyes glance at her with a hint of desire. "I'm really tired, Bruce. What does time have…?"

"Do you remember what time it was when you found me on the roof of Wayne Enterprises?"

The question was bizarre enough to make her think about it. Her eyes narrowed as she thought. "I don't know…three o'clock."

Batman's head tilted to the left and the left side of his mouth moved upward for a millisecond. "Think, Princess. The clock on the next building sounded as you were berating me for my childishness. What time was it?"

Diana closed her eyes for a second, chiding herself for being sucked into this little game of his. She was telling him he was being childish and the clock interrupted her, which only aggravated her more. She remembered the bell ringing once, twice, three times, and four times…

Her eyes flew open and found his across the room as she announced triumphantly, "Four o'clock." To her surprise she noticed something like pride shining in his blue eyes. "It was four o'clock."

His nod was accompanied by a slight smile. "Very good, Princess."

He turned and walked back to the patio doors that he had left open. He could sense Diana tensing behind him, fighting to keep herself from calling out to him and probably resisting the urge to get up and literally pummel some sense into him.

He passed the threshold out onto the patio and pulled the cowl back up over his head, once again turning the all too human Bruce Wayne into the legendary Batman.

He took out his grapple and pointed it upwards. He turned his head so that she could see his left cheek. "Listen to the message", he said in his best bat voice. He fired the grapple without turning his head, not at all worried about whether or not it would find its target. "And pay attention to the time stamp."

Batman turned and lifted his right foot up to the balcony rail in preparation for one of his patented rapid departures, but then he turned back towards Diana.

"Good night, Princess", he said with as much warmth as he ever had. Before she could do or say anything he activated the high-speed grapple and flew off the balcony into the night. By the time Diana got up to close the doors he was long gone.

She walked back and sat on the edge of the bed mentally cataloguing all the information she had been given. _"Message, time, time stamp…what does it all mean? 'Listen to the message' he said."_

She activated her comm. unit and asked J'onn to play the message from Batman. It was pretty much what she expected in terms of the actual apology…but his voice. There was an honest and humble quality to it that touched her soul. She had heard that voice before, though only when it was just the two of them and she always knew that when he used that voice something important was being said to her. Finally the message ended and the audio time stamp played.

Tears stung her eyes as the implications of the time stamp filtered through the fog of emotions clouding her usually sharp mind. He sent the message before she found him…he apologized to her before she let him have it on the rooftop. It was then that she realized that that's what he was doing when she found him. Her eyes opened wide and her mouth followed suit, and despite her best efforts she couldn't close either of them.

That is until she muttered out of reflex, "Oh Hera."


	4. Chapter 4

And so it ends. Thanks to everyone who reviewed this fic…I learned a lot.

And I want to once again thank Jenn who kept me on the straight and narrow. I appreciate your help more than you know.

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Diana sat on a couch in the commissary aboard the Watchtower replaying the day's events in her sleep-deprived mind. She couldn't get back to sleep after hearing the message that Bruce had left for her and, after several unsuccessful attempts at contacting him at the manor, she decided to abandon the apartment for the Watchtower. With the Watchtower's time roughly the same as Gotham's, it was quiet, with only a few members even up and about. The commissary wasn't her first choice as a location to wallow in her anger and self-pity but her quarters were too confining, and not even the spectacular view of the Earth from her favorite gazing spot in the Arboretum could lift her spirits. It was on the way back from there that she glanced in to see the couch, which she suddenly found very inviting.

She sat on the couch in the common area, her arms crossed on her chest in a pose more reminiscent of someone hugging themselves against an arctic wind instead of an act of defiance, anger or contemplation. Her legs were stretched out in front of her and her feet rested comfortably on a small table as she replayed Bruce's message in her mind over and over again.

"An Oreo for your thoughts", came a deep voice from over her right shoulder.

Diana smiled despite her foul mood and turned to regard her fellow League member and friend, only to come to eye level with an Oreo cookie nipped between a Martian thumb and index finger. She moved her gaze upward to see the smiling face of J'onn, though the smile wasn't a happy one; it was more of the type of smile that you would see from someone who knew you were hurting and why: sympathetic and kind.

"May I sit down?" asked J'onn quietly as he pointed to the empty spot next to her on the couch.

Diana took the offered cookie in her own hand and responded with a heartfelt smile. "Of course, J'onn, but be advised I'm probably not the best of company right now." Her hands rested on her upper legs and she stared at her cookie as though it held the secret of the universe.

J'onn sat down to her right, picked a cookie out of the bag and lifted it to his mouth as he said, "I gathered as much." He munched on the cookie and caught her questioning stare out of the corner of his eye. He swallowed the cookie quickly and clarified. "One hardly needs telepathy to see that you are not in the best of moods, Diana." He placed the bag of cookies on the table next to her feet and turned to face her as she looked to the table. "In fact, one doesn't even have to be a great detective to see it."

Her eyes shot back to J'onn, trying to determine if there was a hidden meaning to his detective comment or if it was simply benign. A moment later she realized the same thing she found out every time she tried to read the Martian when he was deliberately trying to be vague…she couldn't read him at all.

"Sorry, J'onn", she said apologetically. "It's been a long night." She glanced around to make sure that no one was close enough to listen, not that that was really pertinent when many of the Watchtower's inhabitants had enhanced hearing. She was relieved to find that they were in fact the only two people around. "I went to see Bruce, and it didn't go well." She hesitated and turned the Oreo around between her fingers.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Martian nod. He leaned forward and pulled another cookie from the bag on the table and popped it into his mouth as he sat back. He knew Diana well enough to know that if she needed or wanted to talk about it she would. In fact, rarely did he have to seek Diana out when she was troubled…she usually came to him, especially when her problems were centered around a certain pointy-eared Gothamite.

As he surmised, a moment later she took a deep breath and continued. "He thinks…he suspects…" She shook her head and whispered, "He thinks that I..."

J'onn remained still, not letting Diana know that he knew more…a lot more…than she suspected.

Diana glanced at her friend and tried not to let her tears spill onto her cheeks. "He is", she took a sharp breath, obviously struggling with her thoughts and emotions, "I don't know what he is."

A burst of anger flared in her chest as a thought occurred to her. "Maybe he's trying to drive me away to be with someone else, maybe his little cat." The thought was ludicrous and she knew it even before her lips finished the sentence. (She would later blame the outburst and underlying thoughts on daytime television and lack of rest). Judging by the amused look on J'onn's face he thought it was pretty funny too. She wiped her eyes with the back of her left hand and gave him a short, almost bitter laugh. "It would be simpler if that was it." She sighed and leaned her head back onto the back of the couch. "I'm so confused." Again inspiration struck and she lifted her head up quickly off the couch. Ignoring the head rush she declared, "Maybe he's the one who's confused!"

J'onn couldn't stand seeing his friends needlessly hurting. He longed to soothe Diana's fears and help her understand the true depths of Bruce's feelings for her, but could not betray the hard earned trust Bruce had given him by divulging his confidences. But that didn't mean that he couldn't lead her in the right direction with some well-placed hints. "No Diana, I sense many things from Batman, but confusion is not one of them. In fact, he feels quite certain of a couple of things."

Diana turned her head sharply in J'onn's direction, her hair flying around her to whip at her face with the movement. "J'onn", she began softly in spite of the loud thumping of her heart, "what is it?"

"Batman has trouble showing his emotions at the best of times." At Diana's knowing look he added, "But you would know about that better than I." He reached over and took another cookie from the bag and kept it in his hands, reminding himself that as soon as he took care of his friends he could take care of his cookies. "However, recently he has had more trouble than usual it seems."

Diana's voice was solemn as she spoke the name of the fourth reason. "Because of Kal."

A small, silent grin was the Princess' only clue that she was headed in the right direction as J'onn stood up and sat down on the table directly in front of her. He still held his cookie in his hand as it rested on his knee, within his field of vision…waiting.

"How can he think that I would leave him? For Kal? For anyone?" she nearly yelled.

The force of her voice, along with the fact that she rose off the couch as she came to this unhappy revelation nearly forced J'onn to fall backwards across the table. He maintained his position, however, and looked compassionately into the blue eyes that bored into his own so intently. "He is a detective, Diana. Feelings, even strong feelings such as love, can be shunted aside by facts and evidence, more so by Batman. He depends on what he sees."

Confusion and frustration warred within Diana for what seemed like an eternity until she finally realized that it was practically all the same. "I don't understand what this has to do with anything, J'onn."

J'onn nodded once and guided her further down the path towards enlightenment. "Diana, it has been fourteen days since Superman came back to the League." She nodded her agreement with that fact. "At least once a day for those fourteen days I have sought out Superman in order to", he paused to search his memory for the correct phrase, "catch up on things."

Still not seeing where J'onn was going, Diana managed, with more than a little annoyance in her voice, to say, "As have I, J'onn." She put her feet onto the floor and leaned forward, closer to him so he could not mistake the desperation in her eyes. "I don't want to talk about Kal, J'onn."

J'onn's head tilted slightly to his left as he mulled over her statement, and more importantly how she said it. He could easily sense her anxiety level rising. "I know, Diana, but his return is the at the heart of the matter." Diana sat back and looked again to the cookie still gently held in her hand. "We have all tried to spend time with Superman, to visit and ask about his time away."

Diana had enough. She was about to get up and leave before she seriously contemplated physically hurting her dear friend, but stopped when the Martian held up his hand to her. Her head bowed as she once again examined the Oreo in her hand and waited for J'onn to continue.

When he was satisfied that Diana was staying to listen to him, and that she wasn't going to try to deprive him of his cookies by physically injuring him, J'onn took a deep breath and continued. "Would it surprise you to learn, Diana, that of the fourteen times that I specifically went to see Superman while he wasn't working, you were with him nine of those times?"

Diana's head lifted slowly so that she could see J'onn's expression. Even before she saw the sincerity in his features she knew deep down that he was right…that he was telling her the truth. Before she could say anything J'onn continued.

"Would it further surprise you", he said softly, knowing that the knowledge he was about to depart was going to add to his friend's misery, "that, not counting tonight, Bruce's last four visits to the Watchtower were made specifically to see you?"

Diana opened her mouth to say something, anything to express the fact that she had no idea what J'onn was talking about, but her vocal cords seemed intent on making a fool out of her once again. She couldn't remember the last time she saw Bruce aboard the tower for anything other than official League business. _"To see me?"_

J'onn read the confusion in her mind without fear of recrimination. Diana had pretty much been rendered speechless after all. "Yes, Diana. During the last week he has come searching for you four times, and all four times you were spending time with Superman…twice in the privacy of his quarters."

Leaving the cookie on her leg Diana rubbed the tears from her eyes with both hands. It all made sense. The fourth reason. It had always been in the back of his mind, and with Kal's reappearance it was brought to the forefront, and further exacerbated by her being with Kal so much. It didn't matter that each and every millisecond she spent with Kal was innocent, as a friend and nothing else, she had neglected the man she loved, and no matter how unintentional it was she hurt him because of it.

Diana knew Bruce better than most, the exceptions being his protégés and Alfred, and looking at the evidence as J'onn so aptly described it through Bruce's eyes, she understood…all too clearly. How would she feel if someone with whom Bruce shared a close friendship disappeared and reappeared five years later and he spent time…a lot of time…with her? Zatanna maybe?

Anger began to well up in Diana's chest and sinister plots of revenge and physical damage began to coalesce in her mind. There wouldn't be a hole deep enough on Earth for Zatanna to hide in. "_Wait a second…"_

"Hera, what have I done?" she muttered as she gently shook her head in disbelief. Even just thinking about Bruce comforting Zatanna made her insides catch fire with anger, and fear if she were to be honest with herself: fear that she would lose him to Zatanna. If she thought that way over a scenario forged of her own mind and dwelled on for a grand total of thirty seconds, what was he thinking in the reality of the previous two weeks?

"Nothing", replied J'onn sincerely, ignoring the turmoil of her mind and dealing directly with her verbalized question, "except be a good friend to someone who needed one."

Diana shook her head sadly. "But it may have cost me Bruce, or at the very least his love and trust."

J'onn reached over and placed his hand upon her knee, temptingly close to the Oreo she seemed to have abandoned on her leg. "Do not underestimate him, Diana. Bruce loves you and he knows that you love him. Talk to him…he will understand if his message was any indication. I have never heard him sound so…penitent." J'onn removed his hand, sat up straight and spoke confidently. "In fact, you may be surprised by how much he understands." He nodded as understanding began to creep across the beautiful face before him. "Some good may have come from your hardship tonight, Diana. How much depends on you."

A ghost of a smile touched at Diana's lips as she realized that J'onn knew more than he was letting on. "Where is he, J'onn?"

"I am sorry, Diana", he said seriously. "I promised I would not tell you where he would be." Before Diana could protest or plead he added in a hushed conspiratorial voice, "However, as a senior member of the League, perhaps you would be interested to know that there are very important upgrades being made to security station seven." A smile appeared out of nowhere on his face.

It was a smile mirrored by Diana as she caught the hidden meaning. Very important security upgrades were done by one person and one person only. She grabbed her cookie, oblivious to the flash of disappointment on J'onn's face and stood up. She leaned down and hugged J'onn warmly. "Thank you, J'onn", she whispered.

J'onn hugged his Amazon friend back. "You are welcome, Diana."

A moment later Diana nodded and without another word headed for security station seven. When she disappeared around the corner, J'onn sighed happily as he turned to the bag of cookies next to him and his smile grew wider. "Now my little friends, you have my full attention." He shook his head as he picked up the bag of Oreos and muttered under his breath, "Earthlings."

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The doors opened to the small room that housed security station seven. Before her on the far wall was the station itself: a computer, multiple monitors, communications equipment and a chair, which was empty. She knew he had to be close by though…his gloves were on the computer console.

"I told J'onn not to tell you I was here", came his steady baritone from the left side of the room. She looked over to find Batman standing behind a redundant computer bank. He stepped out from behind it and walked to the chair, though he didn't sit down. Instead he faced her with those cursed emotionless eyes of the cowl.

"What makes you think J'onn told me anything?" she asked with wide-eyed innocence.

He smirked as he walked to her, gently took her right wrist in his hand and brought her hand up between them at chest level. "The only way to obtain an Oreo cookie aboard the Watchtower is to bring it aboard yourself, steal one of J'onn's, or for him to give you one." He released her wrist and her arm fell back down to her side and allowed his smirk to grow. "I know you're not fond enough of Oreos to bring your own, and I know you don't like them enough to risk stealing one of J'onn's, to say nothing of the fact that you wouldn't steal anything from anyone. That leaves one option: he gave you one, and knowing J'onn the probability is very high that it came hand in hand with a therapy session." He turned and walked back to the security station and sat down with his back to her.

"You are quite the detective." The smile that accompanied her playful remark was guarded at best even though he couldn't see it…unless he had installed some micro cameras in the back of the cowl. She wouldn't put it past him.

"Yes, but that had nothing to do with it." He picked something up off the desk he was sitting at and held up his own Oreo cookie over his left shoulder. "Personal experience."

She couldn't help but laugh a little. When the laughter ended Diana rested her hands against her lower abdomen with her left hand grasping her right wrist. "I'm sorry", was all she could whisper.

The typing he had engaged in after setting his cookie back down on the console didn't cease or even slow down. "For?"

Diana looked to Batman. "For spending so much time with Kal. For not spending enough time with you."

"He's your friend", countered Batman. "Mine too for that matter. He must be having a difficult time adjusting to the new reality in Metropolis."

"Yes he is. But that still isn't an excuse." She took a hesitant step towards him. "It certainly isn't a fourth reason."

His shoulders tensed and his typing hesitated for a long moment. He said nothing.

"I'm also sorry for letting my anger get the better of me and not listening to your message. If I had I might have saved us both a bit of grief tonight." She took another stride in his direction. "I was just so angry and frustrated with…"

She halted her explanation when he spun the chair around so that he faced her and in one graceful motion he was up and within inches of her. He didn't quite startle her, but it was close. "Enough", ordered the harsh voice of the Batman. "You have no need to apologize."

Batman lowered his head and slowly, almost uncertainly reached up and pulled back his cowl. He never raised his eyes to look at her and for a moment she was uncertain as to why. She couldn't recall Bruce ever being so seemingly unsure of what to do.

Finally he looked up and she saw something in his eyes that she had never seen before, something that if she saw it in anyone else's eyes she would call fear. She had never known Bruce to be afraid of anything and the fact that she saw it in him now weighed heavily on her heart.

When Bruce spoke it was with the voice she knew so intimately and loved so much.

"I should be the one..." Bruce's voice failed him and his eyes bore into hers trying to tell her just how sorry he was. His right hand came up and tucked her hair behind her ear and then let his hand gently caress her cheek. "There's no excuse for what I thought and what I did." His eyes narrowed as though he just thought of something. "You said if you had listened to my message it would have saved us some grief." He shook his head sadly. "If I had talked to you then none of this would have happened. If I hadn't automatically thought the worst then none of this would have happened."

"Talking is not your strong suit", Diana whispered half teasingly and half wearily. She closed her eyes and moved her face up and down so that her cheek rubbed against his warm palm.

"No", he agreed, "but it's something I should be working on." He took a breath and sighed and she opened her eyes again. His left hand made its way to her other cheek and he edged closer to her, close enough to kiss away the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. "I thought…I was worried that your feelings for Clark were growing. Instead of making those assumptions I should have talked to you."

"Bruce, Kal's leaving had nothing to do with us…personally, I mean. It had nothing to do with how I feel about you and nothing to do with how much I love you." She smiled at him more out of amusement than anything else. "And his coming back has nothing to do with us personally either. My feelings for Clark are only feelings of friendship, Bruce." Her hands came up to hold his arms at his elbows. "I love _you_."

Bruce tried to smile but just couldn't bring himself to do it. "I love you too."

"I know", she said with a teasing smile. "You wouldn't have acted so juvenile if you didn't."

He let loose snort of laughter and moved his hands down to rest on her shoulders. "I've been called many things, Princess, but I believe that's the first time in a while that I've been called juvenile."

Diana laughed with him and then her eyes and face became serious. "J'onn told me that you came up here a few times looking for me." He turned away and she used her right hand to turn him back to face her. "Why didn't you come to me?"

His jaw twitched and she spared him the answer. "You were afraid of what you'd find…what you'd see." When he didn't answer she leaned in and kissed him softly. "I would never hurt you like that."

He leaned in to rest his forehead against hers. "No", he conceded softly. "For some reason I just couldn't remember that you love me. Or that I trust you…and us." He leaned back so that he could look her full in the eyes. "I'm…sorry for that."

She smiled widely and kissed him again, a little longer this time. When she broke the kiss she muttered, "Given the extraordinary circumstances and my actions, I forgive you."

Diana closed her eyes and lost herself for a moment in the warmth generated within and around her by their physical contact. It always amazed her that something as simple as touching Bruce could make her feel so wonderful. "I wanted to kill Zatanna", she stated with a casualness that made Bruce move away enough to look at her. She nearly laughed when she saw his eyebrows had made their way to the middle of his forehead.

Diana slipped her arms around Bruce's waist, rested her head on his left shoulder and nuzzled her nose against his neck. Her warm breath washed over his neck and throat when she explained. "I tried to imagine how I would feel if you spent so much time with a good friend under the same circumstances." She smiled and felt her breath hitch when his arms moved to protectively embrace her. "I admit the thought was…well, it was not pleasant."

"Diana", Bruce whispered softly, unsure of what to say to that.

"All of this happened because we didn't talk to each other, Bruce", she whispered against his neck. "I didn't talk to you about what I was doing with Kal or even how you felt about him coming back, and you didn't talk to me about it either." Diana looked up into Bruce's eyes. "I didn't even realize I was spending so much time with Kal." Her voice turned almost childlike as she asked, "You believe that don't you?"

Looking into the crystal blue eyes of Diana he knew that she didn't realize it. She was helping a friend and that was it, and that was as natural a thing for her as breathing.

Instead of answering verbally, Bruce Wayne smiled a warm and genuine smile for the second time in a matter of hours, then leaned over and gently placed his lips against hers.

When the tender kiss ended a few moments later, Diana, her face aglow with relief and love, asked playfully, "Can I take that as a yes?"

Bruce's lip turned up in a smirk. "Yes…you can ta…"

He never had a chance to finish when Diana closed the distance between them initiating a passionate kiss that rocked Bruce all the way down to his Kevlar covered toes.

He responded enthusiastically and moments later the door to security station seven was locked with an override code that was non-countermandable except by Batman, and two distinct uniforms were strewn across the floor and over the machinery and furniture in the room with what appeared to be reckless abandon.

And somewhere, deep within the Watchtower, there was a smile that was witnessed only by a bunch of Oreo cookies awaiting their destiny.

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Fourteen hours after Bruce and Diana engaged in their highly unauthorized activities in security station seven, Batman went in search of Superman. Diana had told Bruce that Clark needed him, who he trusted more than anyone, to talk to. Bruce was all for the whole 'trying to talk' thing…with Diana. But with Clark?

It wasn't a preferred option, but deep down he knew that Clark would be there for him if the situation were reversed. It was what friends did, after all. And despite it all, they were friends.

Damn it.

The door to the secondary observation deck opened with almost perfect silence. Batman knew, however, that the lone solitary figure standing at the observation port some twenty feet away heard the miniscule hiss of the door's internal hydraulic system.

Batman waked into the room. It wasn't as enormous as the main observation deck, where most of the inhabitants of the Watchtower went to gaze upon the Earth; and it wasn't as crowded as the Arboretum. It was actually about a quarter of the size of the main obs deck, but both Batman and Superman preferred the view afforded by the smaller room.

"The view is still breathtaking."

Superman's voice was calm, bordering on serene as it sliced through Bruce's thoughts. Clark stood tall as he watched the Earth 'float' by. The usual red cape obscured Batman's vision of his friend, but if old habits die-hard then Clark was standing there with his massive arms folded across his chest and a somewhat dopey grin upon his face.

Some things never change.

Bruce managed to keep his smile in check when that theory was confirmed a moment later when he walked up to stand next to Clark. "Yes", responded Batman finally.

Batman caught the flash of a smile on Clark's lips and knew what was coming next.

Clark turned his head towards Bruce. "Still running under the daily word quota, Bruce?"

The shine in his eyes was still there, noted Bruce as he said flatly, "Yes."

That brought another smile to the larger man's face. He turned back to the observation window and the smile disappeared. "She loves him."

It wasn't a question, and who the 'she' was in the sentence was obvious to see. Lois.

"Yes", replied Bruce.

Assuming that that was the end of Bruce's reply, Clark opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by Bruce when he turned towards him and spoke.

"But she will always love you, too." Bruce resisted the urge to sprint out of the room. He never was good at talking, let alone trying to make people feel better. "I suspect that if you never left to find Krypton that perhaps you would be with her now."

The Man of Steel flinched and Bruce immediately realized why. "Clark…I wasn't blaming you…what I meant was…well, if you…" He sighed and turned back to the window. _This_ is why he never talked to people about the emotional stuff. "Damn."

Batman took a very deep breath. "I wasn't saying it was your fault, Clark. What I mean is that I don't believe that she would have fallen for him if you'd been here. I know it still sounds like…"

A hand on his shoulder stopped Bruce from continuing. When he looked to his friend he once again saw a smile there.

"I know what you meant, Bruce. Thank you." Clark slapped Bruce's back and laughed. When he settled down he looked at Bruce appraisingly. "You never used to be this…helpful." He smiled as he added, "She's been good for you."

Again, Bruce knew whom the 'she' being referred to was. Diana.

"I thought we were talking about you", tried Bruce before the conversation really went somewhere uncomfortable.

Clark shrugged his shoulders as he watched the Earth. "It was a brilliant attempt on my part to covertly change the subject."

Bruce nodded, intimately familiar with the need to not talk about things until the time was right.

"You've been good for her, too. She's very happy." Clark turned to gauge Bruce's reaction, which was not much. Some things never change.

"There have been…obstacles", Bruce said cryptically.

That elicited another laugh from his friend. "I bet", he said jovially. After a moment, Clark became serious. "But you've overcome them all. She's a special lady."

Bruce felt an itch underneath his cowl, and itch he came to know was the sting of anger in his cheeks.

"Whenever we've gotten together to talk since I came back she's listened to me babble on about Lois, my son, my mother…and God knows what else." Clark reached over and put his hand against the view port. "Did you know that she couldn't talk for more that sixty seconds without mentioning your name?"

That caught Bruce completely off guard. "Excuse me?"

Clark smiled widely at finally being able to surprise Batman. "All of our talks since I came back haven't been about me, you know." He lowered his hand and turned to face Bruce and looked at him with eyes that were warning and pleading at the same time. "She loves you, Bruce. Don't let anything happen to that."

Bruce's jaw twitched as he recalled that he had very recently almost let something very bad happen to it, but then the steely resolve that Batman was famous for took over with a passion. "I won't."

Clark smiled and nodded, immensely satisfied with Bruce's response. "I've missed you, Bruce."

Bruce allowed his mouth to form the barest of smiles as Clark began talking to him about anything and everything.

And somewhere, deep within the Watchtower, there was a smile that was witnessed only by a batch of Oreos, waiting for their destiny much as their comrades had the night before.

The End.


End file.
